introduction

Fans of the Merkava IV have several resin upgrade kits. Here is a pure photo etch kit to enhance your Merkava IV model.

contents

The kit comes packed in a plastic bag. There is one your photo etch fret on black cardboard, the instructions sheet, a chain, metal balls, small brass pipes and several brass rods which are of different diameters.

the good

This photo etch kit has the 'ball and chains" included, so these parts which have always been somewhat of a difficulty to reproduce in scale can now be easily made, with no fuss regarding scale.
Furthermore, the kit comes with all the different diameters rods, so you can make all the loops and hinges you need, without buying extra materiel.

the bad

The instructions are, well, they're just bad. It's the most vague instructions sheet one could come across. Builders will need to do a lot of guess work and resort to one's imagination to understand what goes where, and how. In addition, the kit seems to be badly planned. For example, you get 5 photo-etch holders for the side skirts, which will be good for just one side(!) with a leftover of one holder, which you can use for the other side.

the ugly

The price. for almost 50USD, it's just too little, for way way too much.